<^\UIBRARY0A 


M 


Stack 
Annex 


501SC  63 


THE  CLIMBERS. 


AN   ADDRESS   IN   THE   RODEF  SHALOM  TEMPLE 
PITTSBURGH.    SUNDAY,    NOVEMBER    24,     1912. 


Scripture  Reading,  Proverbs  viii. 


Whoso  rindeth  wisdom   rindeth   life,  and  shall   obtain   favor 
from  the   Lord.      (Proverbs  viii..  35.) 


The  name  of  Charles  Darwin  is  associated  in  the 
minds  of  many  persons  with  the  idea  that  he  taught  that 
the  human  family  is  descended  from  the  monkey,  and 
that  there  is  a  missing  link,  yet  to  be  discovered  by  bio- 
logical investigation,  which  will  prove  that  he  was  cor- 
rect. It  is  needless  for  me  to  tell  you  who  read  that 
Darwin  discovered  nothing  of  the  kind,  that  he  never 
made  any  such  statement.  The  popular  opinion  grew 
out  of  one  of  the  falsehoods  forged  by  his  enemies. 


*By  the  Rev.  J.  Leonard  Levy,  Rabbi  of  the  Congregation. 
Stenographically  reported  by  Caroline  Loewenthal. 


Homogeneous  to  Heterogeneous. 

It  probably  arose  from  one  of  the  many  untruthful 
statements  made,  especially  by  weak  clergymen,  in  de- 
fense of  their  weaker  faith.  Mr.  Darwin  is  responsible 
for  the  discovery  of  a  series  of  laws  which  were  dimly 
adumbrated  before  his  time ;  but,  after  -forty  years  of 
patient  observation,  he  was  able  to  teach,  with  the  au- 
thority of  positive  knowledge,  that  everything  in  Nature 
develops  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous, 
from  the  simple  to  the  complex. 

While  it  may  not  be  necessary,  it  may  be  well,  to 
illustrate.  Society,  in  its  beginnings,  was  very  simple; 
but  it  has  developed  and  has  now  become  exceedingly 
complex.  The  brain  of  the  animal  is  simple;  that  of 
man  i^  convoluted  and  complex.  Religion,  originally, 
wa»  a  very  simple  matter;  but  it,  too,  has  become  very 
complex.  In  a  word,  everything  tends  to  grow  from  the 
simple  or  homogeneous,  to  the  complex  or  heterogeneous. 
In  course  of  his  biological  observations  and  his  many 
discoveries,  Darwin  found  that  Nature  has  certain  defin- 
ite and  unvarying  methods  of  operation  which  are  known 
as  Laws,  to  some  of  which  he  gave  the  names  Natural 
Selection.  Variation,  Heredity,  Environment,  and  so 
forth.  When  the  smoke  of  the  conflict  cleared  away,  it 
was  seen  that  Darwin  was  not  the  demon  and  fiend  he 
had  been  represented,  and  that  among  other  laws  which 
he  had  discovered  was  that  exceedingly  great  truth 
which  we  must  all  learn  to  apply  to  our  lives  as  well  as 
to  N'ature, — the  law  of  the  "Survival  of  the  Fittest." 


The  Fittest  Survive. 

Darwin  showed  that  struggle,  contest  and  war  pre- 
vail all  through  nature ;  that  they  always  will  prevail, 
and  that  the  larger  and  .greater  and  stronger  always  seek 
to  take  advantage,  in  some  manner  or  other,  of  their  op- 
portunities to  the  detriment  of  the  smaller  and  weaker 
and  less  efficient;  that  among  trees  on  the  mountain  side, 
for  example,  all  compete  for  the  heat,  light,  soil  and 
moisture,  and  that  this  contest  causes  some  trees  to  be 
dwarfed  at  the  expense  of  those  which  grow  heavenward  ; 
that  were  we  able  to  study  all  conditions,  we  should  find 
that,  ultimately,  certain  trees  survive  while  others  dis- 
appear, and  that  those  which  persist  survive  because 
they  are  fittest  to  survive. 

Nietzsche's  Application. 

Immediately  after  Darwin's  discoveries  had  become 
well  established  in  the  minds  of  the  thoughtful,  a  Ger- 
man philosopher,  Friedrich  Wilhelm  Nietzsche  applied 
these  biological  laws  to  human  experience.  Nietzsche 
showed  that  the  survival  of  the  fittest  must  be  taken  to 
mean  the  survival  of  the  strongest.  Germany  responded 
to  this  teaching  by  becoming  an  armed  camp.  The  phil- 
osophy of  blood  and  iron,  of  force  and  fist,  became 
apotheosized  and,  fKom  the  Emperor  down,  the  German 
people  evolved  into  a  perfect  fighting  machine.  It  was, 
and  still  is,  held  that,  if  Germany  is  to  maintain  her  posi- 
tion in  Europe,  conscription  must  be  rigidly  enforced 
and  the  young  German  must  be  developed  into  a  physi- 
cal giant. 


Strange,  is  it  not,  two  thousand  years  after  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  doctrines  of  the  "Prince  of  Peace";  two 
thousand  years  after  the  crucifixion  of  the  young  Jew 
who  said,  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world7' ;  strange, 
is  it  not,  after  teaching,  from  almost  every  pulpit  in  Eu- 
rope for  well  nigh  two  millennia,  "Resist  no  evil,"  that 
great  nations  should  find  it  necessary  to  support  their 
theological  and  moral  philosophies  by  the  power  of 
armies,  thus,  whether  they  believe  it  or  not,  proving, 
apparently  that  the  fittest  are  the  strongest. 

The  Jew's  Dissent. 

As  a  teacher  of  the  Jewish  religion,  I  beg  to  dissent. 
As  one  spiritually  nourished  by  the  teachings  of  the  He- 
brew Bible,  I  find  myself  in  perfect  accord  with  such 
teachings  of  the  Prophets  of  Israel  as,  "By  strength  shall 
n«-  man  prevail,"  (I.  Samuel  ii.,  9);  "Not  by  might,  nor 
by  power,  but  by  My  spirit,  saith  the  Lord,"  (Zechariah 
i\ -..  6. )  If  there  ever  was  in  the  history  of  the  world  a  peo- 
ple who.  from  the  standpoint  of  the  merely  physical, 
ought  long  since  to  have  proved  itself  unfit  to  live,  the 
Jews  are  that  people.  Small,  weak,  for  centuries  denied  all 
opportunity  for  physical  development,  shut  up  for  ages  in 
filthy  ghettoes  and  narrow  streets,  and  stunted  in  the 
Judengass.  the  Jews  were,  by  a  refinement  of  cruelty, 
denied  the  chance  of  even  strengthening  their  bodies  by 
life  on  the  farms  of  Europe.  Governments,  by  barbaric 
restrictions,  enforced  privations  and  compulsory  legisla- 
tion which  reduced  the  Jews  to  want,  penury  and  de- 
spicable forms  of  trade,  conspired  to  break  the  physical 
force  of  the  Jewish  people  and  to  diminish  their  strength 
and  size. 


It  was  not  always  thus.  In  Palestine,  before  the 
Roman  conquest,  the  Jews  had  been  a  hardy  mountaineer 
or  agricultural  people,  and  a  recent  study,  by  eminent 
archaeologists,  of  ten  thousand  graves  of  Jews  buried  in 
ancient  Palestine,  shows  that  the  average  height  of  a  Jew 
must  have  been  not  less  than  5  ft.  8  inches.  But  the  advent 
of  the  State  religion  in  Christian  Europe  resulted  in  the 
murder,  mutilation,  massacre  and  assassination  of  Jews, 
so  that  their  numbers  have  been  reduced  and  their  phy- 
sical force  vastly  diminished.  Even  in  the  days  of  its 
greatest  prosperity,  the  Jewish  kingdom  was  but  a  tiny 
stretch  of  land  between  Phoenicia  and  Philistia,  between 
the  mountains  of  Edom  and  Moab  and  the  Mediterran- 
ean Sea, — a  narrow  strip  of  territory  about  fifty  by  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

Strongest  Not  Fittest. 

If  the  Nietzsche  idea  is  correct,  Israel  should  have 
departed  long  since ;  and  yet  this  people  lives.  But 
Babylon,  the  mighty  empire  of  antiquity,  is  gone.  Tyre, 
that  controlled  the  commerce  of  the  world,  has  disap- 
peared. Alexandria,  the  New  York  of  two  thousand 
years  ago,  is  today  a  miserable,  filthy  little  hole;  with 
the  exception  of  one  central  square,  the  Place  Mehemet 
Ali,  Alexandria  is  but  a  heap  of  ruins,  filth  and  degrada- 
tion. I  have  mentioned  these  three,  but  the  same  may 
be  said  of  the  mighty  empires  of  Assyria,  Persia,  Syria, 
Greece,  Rome,  Spain.  Great,  indeed,  were  they  in  ex- 
tent; but  gone  the  way  of  all  flesh  are  they. 

We  should  learn  from  this  that  they  who  indentify 
the  fittest  with  the  strongest  err,  and  that  the  word  "fit- 


test."  in  the  sense  that  Darwin  used  it  in  the  phrase  "the 
survival  of  the  fittest,"  must  signify  other  qualities  than 
mere-  physical  prowess.  Napoleon  said,  "I  observe  that 
(i«xl  i>  «>n  the  side  of  the  strongest  battalion,"  but  Na- 
poleon ended  his  life  a  captive  on  the  island  of  St. 
Helena.  It  is  surely  true  that  all  who  repose  their  faith 
completely  in  things  of  the  earth,  who  are  wedded  to 
the  merely  material,  who  believe  that  the  tangible  and 
visible  things  of  this  world,  because  they  manifest  might 
and  power,  are  the  fittest  to  survive,  have  an  incorrect 
conception  of  the  true  interpretation  of  universal  life. 

The  Spiritual  Survives. 

C'ltme  with  me  into  some  humble,  but  truly  Jewish, 
home  and  you  may  see  some  poor  father  studying  with 
his  child,  poring  over  the  musty  volumes  of  ancient  Jew- 
ish lore,  thus  endeavoring  to  fit  his  child  to  become  a 
successful  struggler  in  the  affairs  of  the  world.  That 
man  may  know  nothing  about  Darwin,  or  Variation,  or 
the  Survival  of  the  Fittest,  or  any  other  modern  biological 
term-.  Hut  he  does  know,  by  an  instinct  developed  in 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  Israel  for  thousands  of  years, 
that  they  who  would  survive  can  only  do  so  through 
qualities  of  mind  and  soul,  never  by  merely  physical  or 
material  strength.  Here  and  there  we  find  individuals 
who  have  learned  this  law  and  are  applying  it  to  them- 
^elves  and  others  in  their  environment;  but,  I  believe, 
the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  men  and  women  in 
America  will  more  generally  understand  this  philosophy 
of  our  Scriptures,  and  will  pledge  their  faith  to  the  be- 
lief that  it  is  the  human  spirit,  mental,  moral  and  relig- 
ious, which  gives  man  the  power  by  which  he  survives. 


Diplodocus  vs.  Dog. 

For  if  body,  size,  strength  and  might,  were  the  forces 
which  should  survive,  then  the  Diplodocus  in  the  Car- 
negie Museum  should  be  living  today  while  the  little  dog 
should  long  since  have  disappeared.  If  might  and 
strength  and  power  were  the  fittest  to  survive,  then  the 
mastodon  should  still  roam  over  the  world  while  the  lit- 
tle horse  should  long  since  have  disappeared.  No ;  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  does  not  mean  the  survival  of  the 
strongest.  It  means  the  survival  of  the  best,  the  noblest, 
the  highest,  in  every  phase  of  existence,  and  as  we  fully 
understand  that  moral  strength,  and  mental  strength,  and 
spiritual  strength,  far  transcend  bodily  strength,  we 
ought  to  realize  that  the  elements  which  make  man  fit- 
test to  survive  are  the  qualities  of  mind  and  spirit  or 
soul  rather  than  physical  force,  even  though  it  be  that 
of  the  mighty  giant. 

God's  Justice  Involved. 

Were  it  not  so,  God  were  unjust.  Were  it  not  so, 
there  would  be  naught  but  injustice  in  the  universe. 
Were  it  not  so,  then  the  Prophets  of  the  human  race  were 
lunatics  while  the  rulers  of  the  marts  and  markets  of  the 
world  possess  the  highest  wisdom.  For,  if  God  so  con- 
structed this  universe  that  the  man  of  physical  might 
should  prevail,  then  is  He  not  God  but  a  demon.  If  God 
made  this  world  .so  that  physical  force,  the  fist  and  the 
brutal  power  of  might,  are  the  expressions  of  His  will, 
then  is  He  indeed  a  Jupiter  and  not  a  Jehovah,  then  is 
He  only  a  Mars  and  not  the  Master  of  all  worlds.  But 


a  correct  interpretation  of  history  brings  to  those  who 
have  the  slightest  faith  in  God  and  man  the  assurance 
that  God  did  not  so  form  the  world.  He  made  it  as  a 
realm  in  which  spiritual  forces  are  to  become  supreme ; 
as  the  Scripture  writer  points  out  in  the  lesson  read  this 
morning,  "whoso  fmdeth  wisdom  findeth  life,  and  shall 
obtain  favor  from  the  Lord." 

We  Follow  Our  Nose. 

r>ut  the  truly  wise  man  is  still  rare;  the  man  of  true 
wisdom  is  still  hard  to  find.  Most  of  us  are  still  influenced 
by  the  sight  of  our  eyes,  and  attach  little  importance  to 
the  teachings  of  those  great  and  good  and  wise  men 
whom  we  call  prophets.  Most  of  us  are  still  men  of 
little  faith.  Most  of  us  still  identify  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  with  the  survival  of  the  strongest,  and  most  of  us 
still  believe  that  mundane  power, — material  strength, 
material  wealth,  material  prowess, — gains  for  man  the 
proud  distinctions  and  positions  he  craves  rather  than 
do  mental  power,  and  moral  force,  and  spiritual  grace. 

Mrs.  Schreiner's  Opinion. 

1  commend  to  your  attention  a  little  book  which  ap- 
peared a  little  time  ago,  and  was  written  by  Mrs.  Olive 
Schrciner,  of  South  Africa,  under  the  most  distressing 
circumstances.  Her  work  would,  probably,  have  been 
published  in  several  volumes,  but  when  the  Boer  War 
broke  out  a  great  misfortune  befell  her.  A  couple  of 
months  before  war  was  proclaimed  Mrs.  Schpeiner  was 
ordered  from  her  home  at  Johannesburg  by  her  physician 
because  of  ill  health.  She  left  behind  her  the  manuscript 

8 


on  which  she  had  spent  years  of  labor.  While  she  was 
away  the  contents  of  her  house  were  burned  and  her 
manuscript  was  destroyed.  She  had  made  such  exten- 
sive research  in  preparing  and  writing  this  book  that  she 
was  not  willing  to /•die  without  giving  to  society  a  few 
of  her  suggestions,  and  these  she  has  made  in  a  little 
book  called  "Woman  and  Labor." 

Force  Going,  Intelligence  Coming. 

Mrs.  Schreiner  tries  to  prove  that  the  age  of  force 
is  passing  while  the  era  of  intelligence  is  coming.  She 
leads  us  to  believe  that  the  clay  is  near  at  hand  when  the 
Jewish  ideal  will  not  only  be  better  understood  but  be 
victorious ;  when  the  spiritual  ideal  of  an  invisible  Deity 
will  lead  to  the  worship  of  God,  not  by  the  beauty  of  the 
church  building  or  church  service,  not  by  the  beauty 
of  the  carved  statue  or  excellent  man  or  woman,  but  by 
the  beauty  of  that  holiness  which  finds  expression  in  a 
life  of  justice  and  mercy.  But  let  the  gifted  author 
speak  for  herself.  She  says,  (Pp.  221-223.): 

"The  Jews,  whose  history  has  been  one  long  story  of  op- 
pression at  the  hands  of  more  muscular,  physically  powerful, 
and  pugilistic  peoples;  whom  we  find  first  making  bricks  under 
the  lash  of  the  Egyptian,  and  later  hanging  his  harp  as  an  exile 
among  the  willow-trees  of  Babylon;  who,  for  eighteen  hundred 
years,  has  been  trampled,  tortured,  and  despised  beneath  the 
feet  of  the  more  physically  powerful  and  pugilistic,  but  not  more 
vital,  keen,  intelligent,  or  persistent  races  of  Europe;  has,  today, 
by  the  slow  turning  of  the  wheel  of  life,  come  uppermost.  The 
Egyptian  taskmaster  and  warrior  have  passed;  what  the  Baby- 
lonian was  we  know  no  more,  save  for  a  few  mud  tablets  and 
rock  inscriptions  recording  the  martial  victories;  but  the  once 
captive  Jew  we  see  today  in  every  city  and  every  street.  .After 
long  ages  of  disgrace  and  pariahism,  the  time  has  come, 


whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  when  just  those  qualities  which 
the  Jew  possesses  and  which  subtilely  distinguish  him  from 
"thers,  arc  in  demand;  while  those  he  has  not  are  sinking  into 
disuse.  Kxactly  that  domination  of  the  reflective  faculties  over 
the  o  imitative  which  once  made  him  slave,  also  saved  him 
fruin  lieciimiii.tr  extinct  in  wars;  and  the  intellectual  quickness, 
tin  t'ar-H.yhted  keenness,  the  persistent  mental  activity  and  self- 
c'>ntr»l.  \\-hich  cmild  net  in  those  ages  save  him  from  degrada- 
tinn  "i  cumpeii^ate  for  his  lack  of  bone  and  muscle  and  com- 
Iiative  inMinct.  are  the  very  qualities  the  modern  world  de- 
mand>  and  cmwns.  The  day  of  Goliath  with  his  club  and  his 
oath-  is  fa>t  pa-sin^,  and  the  day  of  David  with  his  harp  and 
skillfully  constructed  >liiiR  is  coming  near  and  yet  nearer." 

The  Jew  in  America. 

I'.y  the  waves  of  good  or  evil  fortune  we  have  found 
our  way  to  .America.  Created  with  a  spirit  which  takes 
u>  hack  four  thousand  years,  endowed  with  hopes  which 
>pring  from  the  teachings  of  mankind's  prophets,  identi- 
fied with  a  religion  which  for  simplicity,  for  beauty,  for 
optimism,  for  idealism,  has  no  equal  and  certainly  no  su- 
perior, we  have,  after  being  buffetted  for  ages  by  brutal 
monarchs,  found  our  way  to  free  America.  America  has 
not  yet  entered  into  her  own.  She  is  still  a  youth  among 
the  nations.  As  a  man  of  English  birth  but  now  an 
American  citixen,  especially  on  such  a  day  as  this  which 
marks  the  forty-seventh  anniversary  of  my  birth  and 
when  I  am  most  apt  to  be  reflective,  I  realize  a  great  dif- 
ference between  England,  the  mother  country,  and 
America,  my  adopted  country. 

American  Society. 

In  America  a  society  is  in  course  of  development 
which  is  a  joy  to  mankind.  One  may  see  here  in  this  land 
an  idealism  which  rejoices  the  soul  and  a  loyalty  to  the 

10 


things  of  the  spirit  which  is  divinely  enchanting.  But 
one  may  also  see  that,  with  the  sudden  accumulation  of 
wealth  by  those  who  were  poor  a  few  years  ago ;  that 
with  the,  so  to  speak,  overnight  acquisition  of  riches, 
many  have  lost  all  sense  of  proportion.  A  story  in  the 
Talmud  tells  that,  when  Noah  came  from  the  ark,  he 
desired  to  develop  a  vineyard,  but  he  found  that  the  seed 
would  not  root  in  the  earth.  An  angel  came  to  him  and 
bade  him  kill  a  lamb,  take  its  blood  and  spread  it  upon 
the  earth.  This  he  did,  but  his  efforts  were  futile.  The 
angel  returned  to  him  and  charged  him  to  take  the  blood 
of  a  lion  and  spread  it  over  the  earth.  This  being  done 
his  labors  were  still  uncrowned  by  success.  A  third  time 
the  heavenly  messenger  appeared  and  now  urged  Noah 
to  take  ?  pig  and  spread  its  blood  upon  the  earth.  It  was 
then  found  that  the  seed  took  root  and  the  grapes  soon 
grew.  One  interpretation  of  this  fable  teaches  us  that, 
when  men  take  a  little  wine,  they  become  gentle  as  a 
lamb ;  a  little  more  may  make  them  strong  like  a  lion ; 
but  too  much  will  cause  them  to  become  filthy  like  a  pig. 

The  Plutocracy. 

It  is  not  otherwise  with  wealth ;  when  fortunes  grow 
slowly  we  find  some  degree  of  modesty;  when  fortunes 
grow  abundantly  we  still  find  some  degree  of  unselfish- 
ness; but  when  fortunes  grow  suddenly  we  usually  find 
a  loss  of  all  the  graces,  while  over-bearing,  impudent  and 
ignorant  arrogance  beyond  all  reason  or  endurance  re- 
places them.  America  presents  all  too  many  illustra- 
tions of  this  truth.  Her  curse  and  her  blessing  are  her 
wealth.  The  blessing  arises  from  the  potential  good  in- 

11 


herent  in  wealth ;  while  a  curse  abides  upon  the  ends  to 
which  much  wealth  is  being  put. 

We  are  in  the  grasp  of  plutocratic  opinion.  It  has 
been  said  quite  humorously  that  when  one  goes  to  Boston 
he  is  asked,  "What  do  you  know?"  before  he  can  enter 
polite  society ;  when  he  goes  to  Philadelphia,  they  ask, 
"Who  was  your  father?"  before  one  can  enter  the  ranks 
of  the  superior  set;  but  when  one  enters  New  York, 
he  is  asked  "How  much  are  you  worth?"  and  upon  the 
answer  will  depend  his  social  success.  This  metropoli- 
tan sentiment  is  all  too  common,  and  if  America  is  to 
survive  to  fulfill  the  high  function  her  seers  and  states- 
men have  assigned  to  her.  she  must  develop  a  worthy 
society  which  is  to  inspire  the  imagination  and  stir  the 
aspirations  of  a  nation  anxious  to  play  a  positively  benefi- 
cent part  in  the  world. 

The  Climbers. 

It  is  not  good  for  man  to  live  alone.  Bacon  was 
right  when  he  said,  "Who  delights  in  solitude  is  either 
a  wild  beast  or  a  god,"  and  there  are  not  many  gods  in 
America  or  elsewhere.  Normal  human  beings  were  made 
for  social  life.  We  crave  the  company  of  our  fellowmen, 
following  the  law  of  like  to  like;  and  out  of  this  desire 
human  society  arose.  Like  wheels  within  wheels  groups 
form  and,  in  well-organized  and  civilized  communities, 
the  highest  and  noblest  group  is  called  specifically  "so- 
ciety." In  its  ranks  are  found  the  finest  flowerings  of 
the  race.  It  represents  the  highest  culture,  the  noblest 
friendships,  the  most  exquisite  sentiment,  the  best  ideals 
found  in  man.  By  such  society  I  do  not  mean  that  spur- 

12 


ious  form  of  it  which  s,eeks  the  limelight  of  notoriety, 
which  loves  to  find  its  names  in  the  "slush"  columns  of 
third-rate  newspapers,  and  which  displays  great  anxiety 
to  record  its  entertainments  in  great  detail  through  re- 
porters who  have  no  more  idea  of  fine  society  than  the 
hosts  of  the  occasion.  Like  everything  genuine  society's 
counterfeit  representation  exists,  and,  dragging  at  the 
heels  of  the  highest  group,  may  be  found  "the  climbers," 
who  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  chosen  among  the  hu- 
man family  as  the  monkey  does  to  man. 

Characteristics  of  Climbers. 

The  music  of  "the  climbers"  is  rag-time;  their  phil- 
osophy is  falseness ;  their  morals  are  mush.  For  the 
golden  key  of  character  which  opens  the  way  to  genuine 
society,  the  climbers  have  brass;  for  intellect  they  have 
phrases ;  for  poise  they  have  pose ;  for  honor  they  have 
PecksnifTian  pretense ;  for  friendship  they  have  syco- 
phancy. They  manifest  a  love  of  luxury  without  effort; 
they  desire  position  without  duty ;  they  pamper  the  body 
and  deny  the  soul.  Social  leaders  leave  their  cards  at 
the  door  when  they  call ;  but  the  "climbers"  have  other 
kinds  of  cards  which  they  use  at  their  tables,  and  when 
they  wish  to  pay  homage  to  your  mental  gifts  they  en- 
tertain you  with  playing  cards.  That  is  the  high  com- 
pliment they  pay  to  the  intelligence  of  their  guests. 

The  "climbers"  are  unfit  to  be  recognized  by  those 
above  them,  or  to  be  seriously  considered  by  the  infinites- 
imally  small  number  below  them.  Without  real  moral 
worth,  without  a  noble  ambition,  they  often  ally  them- 
selves with  religious  and  philanthropic  bodies,  solely  to 

13 


gain  a  recognition  to  which  they  are  not  entitled.  If 
they  did  but  render  a  little  unselfish  service,  one  might 
feel  inclined  to  pardon  some  of  their  glaring  and  out- 
rageous bad  manners;  but  the  "climber"  works  for  none 
but  self.  Compress  every  term  suggesting  disgust  and 
loathing  and  hate  into  one,  and  that  will  but  feebly  ex- 
press the  gentleman  and  lady's  view  of  the  actions  of 
the  "climber." 

The  Climber's  Nihilism. 

America  is  still  in  the  process  of  making.  She  is 
passing  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous  in 
the  attempt  to  prove  herself  fittest  to  survive.  She  is  not 
what  she  yet  will  be,  and  until  the  aristocracy  of  char- 
acter has  firmly  entrenched  itself  in  the  whole  of  Ameri- 
can life,  the  plutocracy  of  shoddy,  fustian  and  prunello 
will,  fur  a  time,  prevail.  The  "climbers"  are  instinctively 
conscious  of  this  transition  and  take  advantage  to  press 
their  ugly  personalities  upon  the  attention  of  the  few 
below,  and  the  many  above  them. 

This  element  in  American  social  life  makes  the  cul- 
tured in  foreign  lands  judge  the  American  people  with 
great  harshness.  For  the  "climbers"  are  the  personifica- 
tion of  all  the  objectionable  qualities  which  evoke  the 
scorn  of  men  and  women  who  refuse  to  worship  the 
climber's  trinity, — gold,  silver  and  copper.  Their  out- 
look on  life  is  through  the  boudoir  mirror  and  they  see 
a  thing  of  "shreds  and  patches,"  of  paint  and  powder 
and  padding.  Their  minds  are  centered  on  self — hence 
they  arc  pessimists.  They  feed  on  gossip  and  vulgarity— 

14 


hence  they  are  moral  Dyspeptics.  Their  hourly  hope  is 
an  invitation  to  higher  ranks — hence  they  are  neuras- 
thenics. They  govern  themselves  neither  by  human  nor 
divine  laws — hence  they  are  anarchists.  Knowing  them- 
selves, they  have  faith  in  nothing — hence  they  t  are 
atheists. 

Society  and  the  Climbers. 

We  must  learn  to  discriminate  between  society 
which  it  is  an  honor  to  enter,  and  the  company  of  the 
"climbers"  which  is  loathsome  and  disgusting  to  per- 
sons of  good  taste.  Ours  is,  in  each  case,  the  birthright 
of  American  opportunity  and  we  ought  not  sell  it  for 
money.  Shall  I  repeat  for  the  thousandth  time  that  I 
have  nothing  against  money  as  such?  The  reproof  which 
I  utter  is  only  against  the  crooked  way  some  have  of 
making  money,  the  evil  use  to  which  money  is  put,  the 
false  worship  of  money,  and  the  still  falser  estimate  put 
upon  it  by  those  who  have  much  of  it  and  none  of  it.  If 
we  are  worthy  men  and  women  we  shall  value  making  a 
life  more  than  making  a  fortune;  we  shall  seek  the  so- 
ciety of  our  real  superiors,  not  because  we  wish  to  go 
where  we  are  not  wanted,  but  because  we  would  improve 
ourselves  by  contact  with  those  whom  we  may,  in  some 
way,  serve  and  gain  spiritually  by  our  service  to  them. 
This  is  the  proof  of  that  wisdom  which,  if  a  man  find, 
brings  him  life  and  also  obtains  for  him  the  favor  of  God. 

In  this  age  there  is  no  place  for  the  climber,  the 
lounger,  the  idler.  Neither  hedonism,  nor  asceticism  is 
worthy,  for  roses  without  thorns  and  thorns  without 
roses  are  undesirable.  The  "climber's"  life  is  worthless. 


15 


God  gave  us  the  social  instinct  to  be  indulged,  and  the 
law  of  like  to  like  is  inexorable.  Society  should  be  a 
great  "order  of  merit,"  and  entrance  to  its  halls  should 
he  the  privilege  conferred  by  the  best  only  on  the  best, 
thus  impelling  all  to  cultivate  the  best  instincts  of  hu- 
man nature.  Some  day  in  America  the  social  group  will 
be  organized  on  this  line,  and  in  that  happy  age,  yet  to 
be,  "climbers'' — the  spurious  counterfeits  of  noble  am- 
bitions— will  be  horrors  unknown  and  nightmares  for- 
gotten. 

The  Three  R's. 

T<>  this  end  we  of  America  need  more  consistently 
and  persistently  consider  the  "three  R's,"  Reading,  Re- 
pose and  Religion.  After  all,  man  is  a  mind  and  it  has 
its  claims  which  cry  for  recognition.  I  never  cease  telling 
those  foolish  parents  the  mistake  they  make  in  their  ab- 
surd worship  of  success  by  any  method  but  righteous 
effort,  and  the  still  greater,  and  less  pardonable,  error 
of  rearing  their  children  without  due  preparation  for 
life's  duties  and  obligations  through  over-much  atten- 
tion to  the  exterior  and  over-little  care  for  the  child's 
graces  of  character.  There  are  many  men  and  women 
whose  children  will  never  thank  them  even  if  they  leave 
them  great  fortunes.  The  greatest  misfortune  that  can 
come  to  a  child  is  to  have  parents  who  are  climbers, 
whose  hearts  and  souls  are  set  upon  wealth,  who  love 
wealth,  who  envy  the  glitter  of  wealth,  and  who  give  no 
time  to  the  development  of  the  child's  mind  and  soul. 

1  know  many  men  and  women  who  will  yet  have 
reasons  to  weep  over  the  mistakes  they  have  made  in 

16 


having  provided  their  j  children  with  everything  which 
pertains  to  the  earth,  and  having  succeeded  only  in  rais- 
ing little  more  than  high  grade  animals.  A  boy  once 
came  home  from  school  and  told  his  father  that  he  had 
learned  that  day  that  he  was  descended  from  a  monkey, 
"Oh,"  said  the  father,  "I  am  not  prepared  to  answer  for 
you ;  but  I  know  that  I,  your  father,  am  not  descended 
from  a  monkey."  How  true  to  life! 

Read! 

We  need  to  read  more.  Do  not  tell  me  your  eyes 
are  too  tired  when  you  come  home  at  night.  Your  eyes, 
in  many  cases,  are  not  too  tired  to  see  the  playing  cards; 
why,  then,  are  they  too  tired  to  read  a  helpful  book?  I 
beg  of  you,  with  all  my  heart,  not  to  be  so  foolish  as  to 
set  such  a  bad  example  to  your  own  children,  fastening 
your  hearts  to  the  vain  glories  of  a  society  of  which 
"climbers"  are  the  leaders,  instead  of  seeking  wisdom 
and  thus  stand  well  before  your  own  educated  conscience 
and  the  presence  of  your  Maker!  Read  a  little  more  and 
play  cards  a  little  less,  O  ye  people  of  America,  and  thus 
set  higher  ideals  before  your  children. 

Repose. 

Remember,  too,  that  life  needs  a  little  more  repose. 
Here  in  America  we  are  always  in  such  a  rush,  we  have 
but  little  time  for  ourselves.  We  endeavor  to  put  a 
whole  week's  work  into  a  single  day.  I  am  not  surprised 
that  we  find  so  many  people  in  America  suffering  with 
neurasthenia,  that  the  hospitals  are  full  of  neurotic  pa- 

17 


tients.  and  that  the  psychoneuroses  exist  in  America  to 
an  alarming  degree.  I  am  not  surprised  that  modern 
fads  like  Christian  Science  should  prevail  in  America; 
because  when  people  are  told  as  a  metaphysical  truth, 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter,  so  many,  through 
lack  of  reading,  prove  that  it  is  also  a  physical  truth, — 
for  their  brain  contains  no  matter,  neither  gray  or  white. 

\Ye  need  more  repose  if  we  are  to  become  a  thinking 
people.  I  low  wise  are  those  Roman  Catholics  who  insist 
that  the  teachers  who  are  to  lead  the  people  must  have 
the  opportunity  of  quiet,  peaceful  reflection!  I  am  almost 
convinced  that  Moses,  when  he  came  out  of  Egypt  with 
his  people,  must  have  found  himself  among  some  in- 
cipient climbers,  and  he  left  them  for  forty  days  and  forty 
nights  to  get  away  from  the  social  set  that  came  out  of 
Kgypt.  \Yithout  more  repose  we  shall  have  no  plain 
living  and  high  thinking. 

Religion. 

\\  e  also  need  more  religion  in  America.  Several 
years  ago  while  crossing  the  Atlantic,  a  deacon  of  a  New 
^>rk  City  church  was  a  fellow-passenger  aboard  ship. 
Me  was  a  very  handsome  man,  of  fine  address,  and  he 
|M.s-.<.-»od  a  beautiful  voice.  In  fact,  I  never  heard  the 
twenty-third  psalm  recited  so  exquisitely  in  all  my  life 
a>  when  that  man  read  it  at  the  Sunday  morning  service. 
Me  had  a  habit  of  playing  one  of  the  American  games,  I 
do  not  know  much  about  it.  but  its  name  suggests  fire. 
Me  played  cards  every  day  with  some  acquaintances  he 
met  on  the  boat,  and  once  when  I  sat  in  the  smoking- 


18 


room  I  saw  him  cheat  at,  cards.  Despite  this,  even  while 
the  scoundrel  was  cheating,  he  was  whistling  "Nearer 
my  God  to  Thee."  I  cannot  believe  that  he  was  a  re- 
ligious man  even  though  he  was  a  church  deacon,  but  I 
do  know  that  he  could  whistle  "Nearer  My  God  to  Thee" 
while  he  played  the  thief. 

Such  transparent  wrongdoing  is  possible  in  persons 
calling  themselves  religious  because,  with  many,  re- 
ligion is  something  for  Sabbath,  for  Sunday,  or  for  holi- 
days ;  or  with  them  it  is  something  to  talk  over  with  the 
clergyman  once  perhaps  in  five  or  ten  years  when  such 
men  call  on  him  in  person;  or  something  to  take  off  and 
put  on  again  like  a  garment ;  or  a  matter  solely  for  the 
churches.  Some  feel,  forsooth,  that  religion  is  much  too 
serious,  and  beautiful  a  thing  to  mar  by  taking  it  into 
their  every  day  life ;  and  so  the  precious  sentiment  is 
safely  stored  in  cedar  chests,  and  they  go  out  into  the 
world  without  it. 

Fairness. 

Now  religion  in  the  final  analysis,  means  to  be  just, 
and  to  be  kind,  to  be  humble,  and  to  be  true.  If  as  Jews 
we  think,  if  there  should  be  any  aspiration  in  us  above 
all  other  considerations  as  the  product  of  our  faith,  it 
should  be  almost  a  passion  for  fairness ;  for  the  Jew 
when  he  is  true  is  always  fair; — fair  to  himself,  fair  to 
his  customer  and  to  society,  fair  in  his  home,  fair  in  his 
office,  fair  everywhere  if  he  is  a  real  Jew. 

Our  Backsliding. 
But  alas,  many  of  us  have  allowed  ourselves  to  be- 

19 


come  seduced  from  the  high  ideals  of  Judaism.  There 
are,  thank  God,  splendid  exceptions.  I  know  men  just 
as  devoted  to  Judaism  as  were  their  fathers  of  old  in 
\\'.>rms.  <>r  Prague,  or  Toledo,  or  Seville,  or  York,  or 
I.<>nd«n.  I  know  men  just  as  fearless  as  their  fathers 
\vliD.  by  their  fidelity,  shamed  the  foes  of  their  faith.  I 
know  Jewesses  who  would  just  as  readily  die  for  their 
faith'-,  sake  as  did  their  pious  forebears  in  ancient  times. 
i'.ut  many  of  us  have  allowed  ourselves  to  be  caught  in 
the  vortex  of  the  "climbers"  so  that  we  set  too  high  an 
estimate  mi  mere  wealth  no  matter  how  obtained.  I 
dare  >ay  to  you.  on  this  day  which  is  a  very  sacred  oc- 
casion to  me.  that  if  the  Jew  wishes  his  children  to  enjoy 
the  opportunities  which  America  offers,  he  must  change; 
not  all  Jews,  of  course;  many  have  no  need  to  change, 
but  only  to  continue  to  progress.  Many  are  loyal  Jews 
and  patriotic  Americans.  But  very  many  among  the 
Jewish  people  must  change. 

My  Position. 

I  have  been  criticised  in  Pittsburgh  for  "knocking 
men's  business."  1  shall  knock  the  character  of  business 
to  which  I  am  opposed  until  my  tongue  can  no  longer 
knock  against  my  palate;  not  because  I  am  opposed  to 
any  man,  but  I  hate  such  business,  I  despise  such  busi- 
ness. I  am  a  father,  I  have  children,  and  so  have  most 
of  you;  and  more  for  the  sake  of  these  dear  children  do 
I  speak  than  for  my  own  sake.  I  recently  chanced  to 
look  up  a  word  in  a  dictionary,  a  copy  of  which  lies  be- 
fore me,  and  I  happened  to  find  on  page  385,  that  the 
word  Jew  is  given  as  a  synonym  for  avarice,  and  is  de- 

20 


fined  as,  "a  crafty  dealer,  or  grasping  money  lender." 
I  find  this  slanderous  and  unjust  statement  in  a  diction- 
ary recently  published  in  America, — "A  crafty  dealer,  a 
grasping  money  lender."  I  say  to  you  in  all  earnestness 
that,  if  there  are  crafty  dealers  who  call  themselves  Jews, 
they  must  quit  their  craft;  if  there  are  among  us  grasp- 
ing money  lenders,  they  must  quit  their  grasping  habits. 

Climbers  in  Our  Ranks. 

This  is  my  point  of  view  as  a  teacher  of  Judaism. 
But  such  a  sweeping  and  wholesale  denunciation  of  our 
people  is  as  false  as  it  would  be  for  me  to  say  that  all 
Americans  cheat  at  cards  while  singing  "Nearer  my  God 
to  Thee,"  that  American  and  shoddy,  or  American  and 
vulgarity,  or  American  and  roguery,  were  synonyms. 
One  cannot  justly  indite  a  whole  people.  Till  I  am  no 
longer  able  to  work  I  shall  endeavor  to  be  worthy  to 
serve  our  holy  cause,  and  also  to  defend  your  children 
and  my  children  against  the  charge  that  a  Jew  means  a 
crafty  dealer  or  a  grasping  money  lender.  This  I  shall 
not  do  by  saying  that  all  Jews  are  perfect,  for  no  people 
is,  but  by  admitting  that  there  are  some  crafty  dealers 
and  grasping  money  lenders  among  the  Jews  who  are  a 
disgrace  to  themselves  and  to  us;  that  there  are  men  and 
women  among  the  Jews  of  whom  we  are  not  proud  and 
whom  we  will  not  permit  to  represent,  or  rather  misrep- 
resent, us ;  that  we  have  our  proportion  of  social  "climb- 
ers" who  are,  alas,  admitted  to  polite  society  only  be- 
cause they  have  money,  but  who  would  be  ignored  were 
it  not  for  their  money ;  and  that  in  these  respects  the  Jews 
make  the  same  mistake  as  do  other  Americans. 

21 


Wholesale  Condemnation  Unjust. 

I  say  this  with  a  full  knowledge  of  what  I  am  say- 
ing, after  great  deliberation  and  with  intense  earnestness, 
and  I  mean  every  wrord  of  it;  and  I  further  say  that  we 
are  fools  when  we  make  of  ourselves  human  ostriches, — 
burying  our  heads  under  the  sand,  as  it  were,  and  calling 
every  one  an  antisemite  who  comments  unfavorably  on 
the  f.  iolish  mistakes  of  some  Jews.  I  deny  the  injustice 
of  the  statement  that  all  Jews  are  equally  guilty,  for 
that  is  a  pure  invention,  a  malicious  falsehood.  I  admit 
nf  the  lews  what  is  true  of  all  Americans, — that  we  have 
our  dregs  and  foam  and  froth,  but  between  these  we 
find  the  great  body  of  good,  pure  wholesome  wine;  that 
we  have. sinners  as  well  as  saints;  that  there  are  para- 
>itic,  as  well  as  pious,  Jews.  Resenting  to  the  utmost 
the  aspersion  of  wholesale  condemnation  of  Jews,  I  urge 
you,  men  and  women,  to  set  your  seal  of  disapproval  on 
those  who  bring  the  Jewish  name  into  disrepute  and  thus 
by  virtuous  living,  confound  the  enemy. 

I  do  wish  that  the  day  would  soon  dawn  when  such 
a  malicious  definition  would  be  as  great  an  absurdity 
when  applied  to  any  Jew,  as  it  now  is  when  applied  to 
all  Jews.  To  this  end  let  us  realize  that  America  offers 
us  greater  and  wider  opportunities  than  merely  making 
money.  We  are  in  a  Promised  Land;  let  us  worthily 
seek  to  reap  the  glorious  harvests  of  virtue  and  piety  and 
true  living.  Let  us  prove  that  we  understand  the  end 
and  aim  of  life  to  be  the  acquisition  of  that  wisdom 
which  brings  life  and  obtains  the  favor  of  God.  Such 
wisdom  excels  knowledge,  as  light  excels  darkness.  Such 


22 


wisdom  is  rooted  in  reverence  for  God  rather  than  in 
the  fear  of  man.  Such  wisdom  only  good  men  possess; 
the  "climbers"  have  only  the  shadow  of  it. 

Seek  Wisdom. 

On  his  deathbed  lay  a  great  Rabbi  in  ancient  Israel. 
Around  him  were  gathered  many  of  his  pupils  who  came 
to  ask  their  master  to  bless  them  before  he  winged  his 
flight  to  the  eternal  home.  Rabbi  Jo'hanan  ben  Zakkai, 
for  it  was  he,  raised  himself  on  his  pillow  with  great 
difficulty  and,  stretching  forth  his  hand  upon  the  head 
of  one  of  his  pupils,  he  said,  "May  the  fear  you  have  of 
God  be  as  great  as  the  fear  you  have  of  man.  This  is 
my  parting  blessing."  The  students  wondered  and,  look- 
ing into  the  face  of  their  expiring  teacher,  said  to  him, 
"Master,  should  we  not  fear  God  more  than  man?"  The 
Rabbi,  slowly  moving  his  heavy  hand  in  dissent,  an- 
swered, "Would  that  you  feared  Him  as  much?  If  a 
man  would  sin,  he  looketh  not  above  into  the  eyes,  as 
it  were,  of  his  Maker,  but  he  looketh  around  to  see  if 
man  is  gazing  upon  him." 

Would  you  really  live?  Then  pass  each  day  in  God's 
sight.  Would  you  be  helpmates  to  your  children  and 
give  them  a  real  position  in  America?  Then  remember 
your  God.  Would  you,  as  members  of  the  Jewish  faith, 
be  to  your  children  a  beneficence,  a  providence?  Then 
sing  morning,  noon  and  night,  in  season  and  out  of  sea- 
son, in  your  houses  and  on  the  streets,  sing  as  long  as 
your  tongue  can  move,  aye  until  you  believe  it,  and  live 
it,  "Whoso  findeth  wisdom  findeth  life,  and  shall  obtain 
favor  from  the  Lord,"  who  will  bless  him  and  his,  here 
and  hereafter. 

23 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


CAtlFO% 


<=>  I 


^\l  LIBRARY^ 


ERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  072  485     6 


